Meenakshi Dixit's journey from a heroine to an actress for 'P Se PM tak'

Meenakshi Dixit, who is making her Bollywood debut in forthcoming political satire 'P Se PM Tak' feels that the experience of shooting for the movie with veteran filmmaker Kundan Shah helped her grow from a heroine to an actor.

"Thanks to this experience, I think I've grown from a heroine to an actress. By the end of the shoot, I feel I've grown as a human being and that my perception towards life, myself and cinema has completely changed," Meenakshi told a leading daily.

In the film, which releases in cinemas on Friday, Meenakshi plays a prostitute. She says she didn't have any qualms of taking up such a role in her debut Bollywood film.

She further said: "I'd like to believe that I'm a typical commercial cinema heroine and that I always felt I was more suitable for commercial roles. All my work so far in the south has been very commercial. But this was a challenging role. It was something I had not done before and I was only apprehensive thinking 'Will I be able to carry such a role without making a fool of myself?'"

Although it's a role of a prostitute, Meenakshi said her director presented her 'respectfully on the screen'.

"For this role, I was made to look five shades darker and had to wear clothes that looked least fashionable; some were even torn. I also had to ruin my Hindi and speak with an accent. Shah-ji never tried to make me look beautiful on screen, but the character I play is by itself beautiful," she said.

A little birdie told us that to get her act right, Meenakshi did research for her role and even visited one of the red light area in Mumbai. The actress made it a point to interact with the locals of the red light area. She did that, so as to bring in the realistic touch to her character in the film.

Shah had originally written the script for Madhuri Dixit Nene, nearly two decades ago.

When asked how she landed the project, Meenakshi said: "His first choice for this script was Madhuri, and he even went to her but the project didn't materialise. He told me that Madhuri inspires him."